The group dungeon Darkness War was a product of true collaboration; one designer (Carola) was responsible for the first iteration design on the whole dungeon, a second designer (Rasmus) brought the first 5 encounters to completion, and I was largely responsible for finalizing and focusing the design of the last encounter, with collaboration from Rasmus.

My design was based on Carola’s original, striving to retain much of the spirit, while focusing the experience on the core mechanics. The core conceit was that the mayan warriors were working a terrible ritual to birth a horror into our world. Upon their success, the creature is so powerful that the players are nearly incapable of stopping it without help. Fortunately for our players, help arrives in the form of the viking warrior, the Varangian, and the powerful artifact sword, Excalibur.

Design Brief:

As the players kill Mayan worshipers, their souls fly into the rift, to an unknown nefarious purpose.Click to view.

Phase 1

Pull the adds carefully, and kill them quickly before they all rush you

Deal with the adds according to their roles; weak swarmers, medium strength spellcasters, and strong melee tanks

Kill all adds to inadvertently summon Wayeb-Xul and trigger Phase 2

Phase 2

Your tank should rotate the boss occasionally to avoid the persistent cone of filth he pukes onto the ground

Your tank should save a taunt for when Wayeb-Xul stomps, blurring everyone’s vision and changing his target

When the party gets pulled close to the boss, run away to avoid a powerful magical explosion

Damage the boss enough, and he will resurrect the dead Mayans and fly away, beginning Phase 3

Wayeb-Xul pulls players close and slams down, triggering an explosion of magical energies.Click to view.

Phase 3

As the mayan adds return from death, kill them quickly before they become too numerous

When your viking ally joins the fight, enjoy destroying the adds with the massive damage boost from Excalibur

Survive for long enough and Wayeb-Xul will return, triggering Phase 4

Phase 4

When the boss returns, kill adds and avoid the boss’s abilities from earlier

When the boss turns an add into a bomb, avoid it or kill it as quickly as possible

Kill Wayeb-Xul to finish the fight

A powerful force is burning the Varangian from beyond the dimensional rift; finish Wayeb-Xul before the Varangian collapses, or you will lose the powerful buff from Excalibur.

The Varangian channels the power of Excalibur as he resists the burning force from beyond.Click to view.

This boss starts with more health than players have ever head to deal with, by almost three times. The first time the players fight the boss, it’s slow and painful going, instilling a feeling of weakness. When the Varangian shows up and uses Excalibur to boost the party’s damage, difficult challenges become easy, and Wayeb-Xul’s massive health pool begins dropping rapidly. Players get to feel powerful, and have the odds evened in spite of overwhelming numbers.

Wayeb-Xul turns a minion into a living bomb, a mechanic recurring from earlier in the dungeon.Click to view.